Spartak Moscow. The champions

Football club Spartak Moscow fans were devastated in summer 2016. And being a fan since I was 3, I was among them.

Winning 9 out of 10 national titles in the nineties, the team has been losing for 15 years. And the fans' new hope, former player legend and a new coach Dmitry Alenichev, failed.

More, hopes were high for 2016/17 season, but the very first games brought a humiliating elimination from Europe League in a 2-game match with an underdog team from Cyprus.

Alenichev resigned and his newly assigned defense coach Massimo Carrera was chosen to head the team towards a few games while the club was negotiating with other candidates. The talks failed but the team kept winning under Carrera's rule, while he was seen mostly as a motivation builder.

He was promoted to be the new head coach, but the miracle stayed. The team went on to crush their opponents from CSKA in the country’s most heated derby. The players scored unimaginable goals in the additional time with those considered veterans showing the never before seen skills and young newcomers swiftly becoming Russian best players.

The miracle stayed with the Red-White. They won the league for the first time in 16 years. They are back.

Spartak Moscow players Evgeny Makeev (left) and Ilya Kutepov react as their team loses in UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round to an underdog team AEK from Cyprus. August 4th, 2016

A young fan tries to cheer his team up as they are loosing to an underdog team in UEFA Europa League 3rd qualifying round

Massimo Carrera, Spartak Moscow head coach, prepares to lead his team in a Russian Premier League game against Orenburg. Carrera was initially signed to be a defense coach under Dmitry Alenichev, who was fired after a loss to AEK. He was assigned to be substitute coach for the first games after that, but the team went one to win all of them and Carrera was promoted permanently. April 3rd, 2017

Spartak Moscow ultras cheer for their team at an away derby game with CSKA Moscow. Spartak won and almost guaranteed the first league title in 16 years. April 30th, 2017

Roman Zobnin, Spartak Moscow's newcoming midfielder who swiftly became team's leader, is being treated after the head injury which he got while scoring a goal in a league game against Orenburg. April 3rd, 2017

Spartak Moscow ultras fans hold up a huge scaring banner before so-called 'The two capitals derby' game agains Zenit Saint-Petersburg. Spartak won this game as well. April 16th, 2017

Spartak Moscow fan, who ran off the stands onto the pitch, hugs team's head coach Massimo Carrera after a league game in Perm. A few days ago Spartak became the league champion for the first time in 16 years. May 13th, 2017

Spartak Moscow fans light flares, cheer and toss team's midfielder Alexandr Samedov in the air as they fill out their home pitch celebrating championship. May 17th, 2017

Spartak Moscow team players and fans celebrate their championship

‘This is Navalny’ is a year long photoproject following Alexey Navalny’s insurgent campaign. Navalny, a lawyer and an anti-corruption activist, announced his bid to participate in March 2018 Russian presidential election in late 2016. For more than a year he campaigned across Russia trying to force Kremlin into letting him be in the ballot against Vladimir Putin despite trumped embezzlement accusations and a special bill outlawing those convicted from running.

Navalny’s campaign accumulated almost 200,000 volunteers, got almost $4 millions in small donations and opened 84 local headquarters, his investigative movie on prime minister Dmitry Medvedev been watched 25 millions times, all results prevueusly unseen in the history of Russian grass root campaigning. Navalny criss-crossed Russia twice, staging dozens of record-attending rallies from Murmansk to Vladivostok. He was attacked with green liquid and acid, partially losing sight in one eye. His campaign became a turning point for tens of thousands of young people who for the first time in a generation became engaged in politics and participated in permitted and unpermitted rallies in hundreds of Russian cities and towns.

Given the costs and lack of major independent media in Russia, the project was funded by Navalny’s campaign under the terms of providing total access and zero involvement in editing and publishing.

On December 26th, Alexei Navalny was banned from participating in elections. He announced a ‘voters strike’ and sued the Election Commission.

This story was published in the first issue of SVOY magazin. Available for order here.

Alexey Navalny, Russian opposition leader and presidential contender, his face splashed with a green liquid and acid after a pro-Kremlin activist's attack, looks into the camera on a way back to his office from the hospital in Moscow

Alexey Navalny along with his campaign staffers and other travelers board a passenger plane en route from Kaluga to Saint Petersburg

Alexey Navalny on a campaign trail is driven through crumbling suburbs of Izhevsk, a city of 646,000 citizens

Alexey Navalny speaks into megaphone standing on a loudspeaker that was brought to the square in Samara to deafen his rally that was outlawed by the local government

Alexey Navalny and his campaign staffers are having a night off as they have a stopover in Saint Petersburg while being on a campaign travel in Northwest Russia

Alexey Navalny sips tea at the railroad station in Bologoye as he waits for a train to Tver

Alexey Navalny speaks at his campaign rally in Vladivostok, Russia. He grimaces as he is told the police forces are using special equipment for his microphone to drop the connection and had to switch it to the wired one

Alexey Navalny gives away his microphone in order to have improvised debates with a Kremlin supporter who argued with him from the crowd during Navalny's campaign rally in Kursk

Alexey Navalny, frightened, looks in the mirror at his presidential campaign�s office in Barnaul in Siberia after he was attacked with a caustic green liquid at doorsteps by a man believed to have ties with local government

Alexey Navalny, his wife Yulia and son Zakhar are surrounded by the police forces as they are being removed from a protest rally against Moscow mayor

Alexey Navalny eats noodles in the backstage of his campaign's staff meeting in Tarusa, Russia

Alexey Navalny is detained at the site of an unpermitted rally on Moscow's main Tverskaya street

A button microphone, couple of glasses, a rubber duck symbolizing fight with corruption and a poster of an investigative movie on prime minister Dmitry Medvedev are seen on a fingerprinting powder-covered table in the studio of the Anti-corruption foundation that was searched without a warrant for a few days after its workers were arrested for staging a protest campaign

A look from Alexey Navalny's campaign bus on a snow-covered Siberian field

Alexey Navalny and his wife Yulia have a private moment before his speech at the general rehearsal of his meeting with campaign stuffers from all over Russia brought to a resort near Moscow

Alexey Navalny looks at crumbling houses in Arkhangelsk, on Russian North

Alexey Navalny speaks to his campaign's volunteers in Cherepovets, Russia while standing on a vintage loudspeaker

Police officers dismantle handcuffs from Alexey Navalny's hands prior to an appeal hearing after his arrest at a rally in Moscow, Russia

Alexey Navalny speaks at his campaign rally in Khabarovsk, a city on Russian Far East of approximately 600,000

Trumpland to the win

Trumpland to the win tells a story of Americans who propelled Donald Trump to an upset victory in November 2016. Those overlooked by the media and by politicians who were charmed with a perceived honesty and empathy shown by the New York billionaire.

This photos (and many more) were published in my album Supertuesday and The Rest Of The Week, available here

Visitors stand in front of four-meters-high Donald Trump's portrait that was erected next to the Trump House in Pennsylvania's Westmoreland county.
The building was made by Leslie Rossi, early Trump supporter, who was harassed by her neighbours for her views. In a response and being a realtor, she turned one of her houses into a self-established campaign offices, giving out 'Make America great again' merchadize and registering voters.

Clairton, Pennsylvania, is one of a few coal factories that are still operating in the surrounding area. Locals though feel depressed as they say the salaries are shrinking and more and more contracts are given to those affiliated with the factory's top management.

Children ride a bomb-shaped auto-train at an air show in Dallas, Texas

Abilene Eagles host Keller Indians as two high school football teams compete in a local championship

Local upholstery shop in Abilene is abandoned now with race trophies still seen in a broken shop-window

Local hunters look for a shot mourning dove during their weekly Wednesday hunt in Tailor county, Texas

Donald Trump speaks at his campaign rally in New Orleans, Louisiana

Trump's supporters cheer at the National mall as Donald Trump finishes his oath being sworn in as the 45th president of the United States

Abkhazia

Last summer I spent a week on assignment in Abkhazia, Georgia's breakaway region that was recognized as an independent state by Russia 9 years ago.

During Soviet time, Abkhazia was a popular vacation destination, and now those who can not afford traveling abroad are visiting it and its' crumbling beach infrastructure

Local market

Abkhazia's football championship game

Some local businessmen are trying to grow vegetables such as tomatoes, but it is hard to get any investment given Abkhazia is not recognized as a country

Former government building in the city center of Abkhazia's capital Sukhum is abandoned and charred since 1992-1993 war

Local hipsters are mostly moving to Russia but those staying are desperatly trying to organize places to go, such as beach club 'Volna'

Militarism & glamoUr in moscow

In this project, I followed the emergence of a new kind of glamour in Russia, one based on militarism and extreme loyalty to the state. I spent several months photographing displays of this new aesthetic everywhere from elite clubs to weightlifting gymnasiums and from army expositions to high-end department stores.

Two days in Washington, D.C.

For two days in January 2017, Washington D.C. was full of supporters and haters of the new president, Donald Trump. First ones, in relatively small numbers, came to cheer as mogul-turned-politician promised to stop ‘an American carnage’ and announced his plan of ‘America first’. Second ones mostly came the next morning in order to join The Women’s march that amassed almost 1 million in the nation’s capital.

First ones and second ones had almost no interference and spent the weekend in an entirely different mood. Still, there were some things that made them look alike.

Pussy riot unreleased

On a hot summer weekend a year ago members of Pussy Riot, Russia's premier opposition punk band, were on the streets of Moscow filming a music video for a song that will never be released.

The plot was simple: a camouflaged woman crawls through the city, sometimes she runs or parkours. Every single one of three balaclava-wearing activists/actresses were bruised and injuried, overheating in the heavy combat boots and military uniform.

The song was supposed to highlight militant tendencies in Russian society.

A member of Pussy Riot crawls past the Cathedral of Christ the Savior. The band was arrested here following a performance in 2012.

Pussy Riot member at Leningradsky railway station

Pussy Riot member on Moscow's Red Square

New OrleanS

My second stop on the campaign trail was New Orleans, Louisiana. The city that suffered most when hurricane Katrina hit the US coast is now the city of recovery and (still) the city of bars, jazz and cool neighborhoods packed with places to see, beautiful houses and, well, more bars with great bands playing jazz.

Just like in Iowa, I tried to tell the story of big politics coming to the city that lives its usual life.

Donald Trump's supporter at the campaign rally in New Orleans, Louisiana

Protesters oppose Trump's rally

Donald Trump speaks at a rally in New Orleans

New Orleans's Superdome stadium

Veterans' job fair at Superdome

'Friday night fight', an amateur street boxing league

Contemporary art gallery in downtown New Orleans

A man works a night shift in a pizzeria

'Mister Dave', 9th ward resident, started a local culture museum at his house

Bill Clinton speaks at his wife's campaign rally in New Orleans

Bernie Sanders' supporters are preparing for canvassing

Hillary Clinton's supporter cheer as they have a Supertuesday watchparty

IOWA City

Every 4 years Iowans find themselves at the forefront of US and world politics. I spent the week before the caucuses in Iowa City, a town of 73,000 most of whom are connected to the University of Iowa. I covered their daily lives, from chemistry labs to the wrestling matches and from underground Bernie Sanders supporters parties to polling places on the night of the caucuses themselves.

People stand in a line to attend Donald Trump's rally in Iowa City

Student wrestling match in Iowa City

Local student oppose Donald Trump's rally in Iowa City

Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) holds his speech draft in his hand as he opens for Ben Carson in Iowa City

Ted Cruz's rally in Iowa City

Jared & Leia play table tennis at their house's basement

Bill Clinton's rally attendees

Bernie Sanders' supporters underground 'caucus awareness' party in Iowa City

People line up for Bernie's rally

University of Iowa professor Christopher Cheatum is seen during an experiment at his laboratory

Republicans caucus in Iowa City

Bernie Sanders supporters cheer as they win at caucus at their precinct

RussiaN Protesters

I've been photographing Russian protesters of all kinds for years.

I've been going to communists' gatherings and right-wing marches. I've been photographing unlawful assemblies and streets blocked by activists. I've witnessed funerals of politicians and opposition leaders being imprisoned. I've been covering state-wide political campaigns and grass root agitation in rural areas.

I've stood in the middle of a crowd of 200,000 and next to mothers heartbroken over their children being sentenced. I've entered apartments after they were searched by police and was under heavy surveillance when photographing in Sochi during Olympics.

Here's a small part of what I have seen.

Russian village that banned wikipedia

Cherniy Yar is a village of 8,000 in the south of Russia. And it has become relatively famous in Russia after a local judge granted the prosecutor's request to ban Wikipedia statewide in August of 2015.

Actually, he requested to ban encyclopedia's entry on an Indian handmade form of cannabis called charas. But because Wikipedia is built on https protocol that would mean banning of the whole site. Though Wikipedia was not eventually banned in Russia, I spent almost two weeks in Cherniy Yar following its daily life.

Gas pipes are already installed and fees are assigned but there's no gas yet

Local school

The village has one of the best youth aeromodeling groups on the Russian south. Some of its graduates are working as aviation engineers now. This year, one of them went to Voronezh to study for UAV operator. Group’s head Mikhail Vitalyevich is on his position for 32 years since 1983.

Ukraine apart

I have been covering the events in Ukraine for a year and a half. What started as a peaceful protest in Kiev turned into a full-scale riot then into a street war, and then through Crimea annexation into a real war in Donbass.

Covering that shift was a tough task, especially as the events fell surreal at the moment (and dso in retrospect).

That revolution was meant to elevate the people of Ukraine and their country to a new level of dignity and prosperity, but it turned into a war that showed the worst in so many people and tore apart so many groups and connections.

Protesters chat with each other holding EU flag during clashes with police forces in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Riot police officers prepare for an attempt to dissolve the crowd that gathered at Kiev's main square Maidan

Protesters throw stones towards riot police forces

Protesters lit up the barricades on Hrushevskogo street in Kiev

Protesters shoot with fireworks towards riot police forces

Volunteers help as doctors in the hospital organized in Kyiv's Mikhailovsky monastery after almost 100 protesters were killed with snipers' fire and hundreds were wounded

A protester gestures during clashes

Protesters explore Ukrainian president Yanukovich's fancy residence Mezhihirya after he fled the country

Portrait of Ukrainian ex-president Yanukovich and ex-prosecutor general Pshonka is seen damaged after protesters assaulted Yanukovich's residency when he fled the country. The portrait is a part of an exposition of president's goods that was installed in Kyiv the summer after the revolution won.

Russian soldiers are seen guarding their camp that blocked one of Ukrainian army military bases in Crimea

Ukrainian sailor is seen smocking on board of his vessel as it is blocked by Russian ships near Sevatopol

Minefield and a border line are prepared by Russian soldiers in Ukrainian region Kherson next to Crimean peninsula

Pro-Russian militiamen are seen confronting a priest on his way to a church situated on Ukrainian military base

A man is seen holding Russian flag as Simferopol celebrates Crimea becoming a part of Russia

Handprints are seen on the charred walls of Trade Unions building in Odessa that was a headquarters for Pro-Russia protesters and was burned down after clashes were provoked, leaving 42 dead

An armed separatist is seen in Donetsk

A civilian woman is seen dead in Donetsk

Pro-Russia fighters and journalists are escaping fire during first battler for Donetsk airport

Woman passes by a destroyed building in Sloviansk

Locals shelter in a basement of a chemistry plant in Donetsk

Relatives mourn Ukrainian soldiers who were KIA in the very first days of truce in September 2014

Wounded soldiers are seen in a hospital in Dniepropetrovsk

Ukrainian soldier reflects as he is forced for labour among other prisoners of war in Ilovaysk

Pro-Russian fighters are seen escorting Ukrainian POWs on the streets of Donetsk

Pro-Russian fighter is seen guarding Ukrainian POWs as they are forced for labour in Ilovaysk

Locals are seen fleeing Debaltsevo as fierce fights erupted in the area

Ukrainian soldier is seen wounded as he is transferred to the hospital after fights in Debaltsevo area

A woman is seen hiding in a basement as Debaltsevo comes under heavy fight from separatists' side

Debaltsevo area is seen shelled

Moscow Riots trial

Russian protests of winter 2011/12 were effectively stopped by the government with a few minor changes in country's political system and a few massive pro-Putin counter rallies. And then came the crackdown.

The opposition held a rally on May 6, a day prior to Vladimir Putin's third inauguration. The rally turned into clashes with the riot police forces after they blocked the crowd's path leaving a road way too narrow for an 80,000 march.

Thousands were detained, hundreds served minor terms for different misdemeanors. More then 30 people were arrested including those who were not even on a site. Two dozens were imprisoned and sentenced to up to 4,5 years. Many fled the country. The protest movement dissolved.

Anna & Alexey Gaskarov look at each other as he is arrested for confronting police on a rally. Gaskarov was sentenced to 3,5 years in jail and is still imprisoned. April 29, 2014

Trial of 12 verdict announcement. February 24, 2014

Relatives are being blocked from seeing their loved ones. Trial of 12 first hearings. June 7, 2013

Artyom Savelov was sentenced to 31 months in prison. February 21, 2014

Mikhail Kosenko was sent to a psychiatric clinic for mandatory treatment. November 9, 2012

Stepan Zimin was sentenced to 3,5 years in prison. Was freed after 3 years in custody. March 1, 2013

Sergey Krivov was sentenced to 4 years in prison. He was freed 3 months earlier. November 12, 2013

Alexandra Duhanina's house arrest is being extended. She was given a suspended sentence of 3 years and 3 months. March 5, 2013

Artyom Savelov. September 2013

Konstantin Lebedev reacts at hearings on his arrest extention. He was the only the only defendant to plead guilty and collaborate with the investigators helping them to build a case against other indicted. He was given 2,5 years in prison and was freed 12 months earlier. December 11, 2012

Kiev, Then and now

Two years ago, on Maidan revolution first anniversary, I've shot a gallery for Mashable to show side-by-side locations where the unrest unfolded then and now.

(Left) Activists gather at Horodetskoho Street in central Kiev one morning last winter during a shift change after patrolling the streets around the Euromaidan camp overnight. A man plays the national anthem "Ukraine is Not Dead Yet" on the trumpet as men and women sing.

(Right) Today, a relative calm has descended on the city, though men in camouflage uniforms can often be seen here as soldiers return from the front lines of eastern Ukraine, where the fight against Moscow-backed rebels continues.

(Left) Sergey Didich, seen here on Kiev's Institutska Street, joined the Euromaidan camp on Independence Square Dec. 7. Before becoming a revolutionary, he was a member of his city's parliament. I photographed him in a crowd in Kiev on Dec. 11, when the camp was stormed by Berkut riot police. Eleven months later, his son Andriy contacted me and asked for this photo. His father had died in clashes with security forces in Kiev on Feb. 18.

(Right) The heaviest clashes took place on Institutska Street. After riot police retreated, protesters followed but found themselves trapped. Snipers and police with Kalashnikov rifles opened fire on the protesters, killing scores. Ten months later, the street is now home to a memorial that stretches for hundreds of feet. Sergey’s portrait is in the middle, close to where I stood when I captured his portrait in December.

(Right) In place of barricades and bonfires on Hrushevskoho Street is a memorial to Euromaidan activist Mikhail Zhiznevsky, killed during the revolution.

(Left) A protester peers through binoculars at police lines on Kiev's central Hrushevskoho Street in January. The road became a flashpoint when protesters attempted to march to parliament. Met by riot police, protesters hurled stones and molotov cocktails and police responded with volleys of rubber bullets and tear gas. At least three people died in three days of fighting. Protesters burned tires to create a smokescreen to keep police from advancing, creating an apocalyptical scene of smoke, fire and ice.

(Right) Today, crosses and memorials to fallen protesters, including the "Heavenly Hundred," dot the cobbled Hrushevskoho Street. The barricades have come down and traffic bustles to and from Kiev's parliament and government district. Some buildings are still stained by the smoke that rose over the road. But the entrance to the Dynamo football stadium has been restored. This week, a light dusting of snow fell over it all.

(Left) View of Independence Square and the Euromaidan tent camp from the hill near October Palace in Kiev on a cold New Year's Eve last year.

(Right) The tents and barricades have come down but memorials to the activists killed have been erected, along with dozens of blue and yellow Ukrainian flags along Institutska Street below.

(Left) The view from Hotel Ukraine on Independence Square, overlooking the tent city where hundreds of thousands of people gathered to protest against President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

(Right) The same view today from the top of the hotel. A giant blue and yellow poster that reads "Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!" now covers the burned out Trade Unions Buildings, center-right in the photo.

(Left) Protesters hung flags and revolutionary messages from a tree that can be seen through the smoke and fog in Independence Square.

(Right) The same view of Independence Square and Khreshchatyk Street today after a light snow. The tree is now gone.

(Left) Euromaidan volunteers stand guard on the barricade on Institutska Street which cuts through central Kiev, from Independence Square to the city's government district. This big barricade was erected beneath a skybridge to prevent the government's security forces from storming the protester's tent city.

(Right) Now part of the street has been renamed "Alley of the Heavenly Hundred," in reference to the Ukrainians who were killed here during the revolution. Portraits and memorials with flags and flowers line the street. People come out daily to pay their respects to the fallen.

(Left) A couple embrace near a barrel fire inside the barricades last winter. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian endured sub-zero temperatures for three months at the camp, which served as the heart of the anti-government protest movement.

(Right) A year later, the barricades and barrel fires have been cleared from the square and people now go about their daily life.

(Left) The first camp of some 300 or 400 people — mostly students — on Maidan was violently dispersed by riot police in the early morning hours of Nov. 30. Immediately afterward, thousands of Ukrainians gathered on nearby Mykhailivska Square outside a monastery in which the students sought refuge and medical attention. They formed self-defense squads and prepared for a giant demonstration later that day.

(Right) Today the square is as calm as it was before the revolution.

Ages of moscow

This June, I did a photo story for Swiss magazine WOZ. I was assigned to show Moscow locations that exist on the intersection of ages, I mostly focused on places with conflict between Soviet and modern times but looked broader into the city I love that is one of the most historically chaosed places on the planet.

'Ship-house', a legendary half-a-kilometer-long brutalist apartment building that was used to accomodate scientists working on nuclear energy programs, is now completely changed and somewhat damaged by capitalism.

Moscow hosts relics of St.Nicholas this summer, which have left Bari for the first time in 930 years. The line is 9-hour-long and it leads to the Christ the Savior Cathedral. Opposing it, across the river, life goes as usual.

Old caroussel horses look out of an under-the-bridge junk store in Moscow.

Muzeon is an art park in Moscow city center, that hosts dozens of Soviet monuments toppled during the unrest of 1991, including those of Lenin, Stalin and Dzerzhinsky.

Moscow youth walk on an embankment between two districts: Stalin-built area surrounding Kutuzovsky prospect and modern City district. Babushkas on a sightseeing tour do the same across the river.

Burger King's promoter is seen dressed as a burger in front of the main entrance to the Soviet amusement park Exhibition of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh)

Muscovites use subway wi-fi network on their smartphones to surf web at Kievskaya station that is decorated with Soviet mosaics.

Three generations of Muscovites wait for a tram.

Mother is walking with her toddler in the Soviet amusement park Exhibitions of Achievements of National Economy (VDNKh)

Artists are playing chess as they hide from the rain at vernissage next to Tretyakov gallery in Moscow

Muscovites are walking in front of the Soviet-era Worker and Kolkhoz Woman monument, expo of Russian army's anti-aircraft self-propelled systems (including one called "Buk" of the same system that supposedly downed Malaysian Boeing over Donbass) and the monorail that was built in 2004

Teenage skaters ride in front of Lenin's monument using it as a ramp on Oktiabrskaya square in Moscow